


Stories Never Told

by mathmusicreading



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Drabble Collection, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-14
Updated: 2014-04-01
Packaged: 2018-01-04 15:27:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 2,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1082659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mathmusicreading/pseuds/mathmusicreading
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A <i>Thor</i> drabble/sentence-fic collection, will be updated as ideas strike.</p><p>*If you check out <a href="http://mathmusicreading.tumblr.com/tagged/fic/chrono">mathmusicreading.tumblr.com/tagged/fic/chrono</a>, you can get a better idea of what each chapter is about.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Frigga, All-Mother

Her smile is knowing and satisfied, and calls to mind nothing so much as the ineffable bearing of a cat, that creature so profoundly assured of its place above all other beings of the universe.

Frigga has never needed her loom to steer her husband and sons with gentle hands.


	2. The Lady Sif

_Sif is fast and furious in both mind and body._

_Loki watches as she spars with his brother._

_She sees her opening and strikes, sweeping his legs out from under him. Thor goes done with a yell._

_In that moment, he thinks he loves her._


	3. Switched

She grabs him by her neck and growls.

" _Change us back._ "

She shoves him away.

"I bet you still couldn't beat me like this."


	4. Interlude (a.k.a. Switched - Part 2)

Loki is anxiously searching the archives for some solution, a hole in his spell or a way to awaken her seidr.

She fingers one of his locks.  _As soft and dark as her own, she muses._

It's unfortunate she can't do anything with the situation.

_"Have a care for your hair, Loki," she might say, "I always said I would exact my revenge, and my word is ever my bond."_

_Or she might simply finger a lock of his hair as she is doing now, arch his brow in that assured, nonchalant "Who me?" expression of innocence he loves, and fix him with his gaze while calmly mentioning, "There is a pagan saying on Midgard: an eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth."_

But as entertaining as the look on her face would be, he would catch on to her trickery all too quickly, and he is far more gifted at mischief than she.

_No, it is best to leave Loki to fixing the problem. At least she may be able to practice seidr after this; a new weapon to experiment with or way to meet Loki in the dance they dance around each other is always welcome._

There is no doubt in her mind that Loki can do this.

_And she had gotten off that quip, had still overwhelmed and intimidated him in their exchanged forms._

_There is that at least._

 


	5. After (a.k.a. Switched - Part 3)

"Well that was fun," Sif says serenely.

"Fun?" Loki gasps, his expression changing from relief to incredulous disbelief.

"You may have been too rattled to function," Sif says archly, "but I was not. A warrior maintains her cool and performs reconnaissance."

She shrugs. "I simply performed a thorough inspection of the lay of the land."

Loki is caught between intrigued and horrified at her implication and his own missed opportunity.

_"As the sorcerer, I do rightly trust that you did not get up to any unwise exploration, do I not?"_

Her aspect is chilling and her tone dire; Loki feels himself shiver with the same fear that sent him scurrying to the library, distracted from the possibilities now passed.

 

 


	6. Bonding

Loki, Sif, and the Warriors Three liked to join Thor on his visits to Midgard.

New York had involved much ~~raucous jeering~~ rousing cheering as the Asgardians and the Avengers took turns pairing off and attempting to ~~vindicate with extreme prejudice~~ teach their personal styles of combat. The visit ended with a trip for deep-fried ice cream that left the street vendor shaken but not too traumatized, and perfectly set up to convert his food card into a tourist attraction business.

In New Mexico, Darcy blew past Jane, the Asgardians, and S.H.I.E.L.D. to decide the activity for the inter-realm ambassadors. While the female member of their party took to it readily, the salsa dancing class Darcy dragged them to left the men speechless and progressively more uncomfortable at the sight of their childhood companion's ~~enthusiastic giving over of her body~~ wanton abandon. Sif's dulcet cries were probably what sent her brother over the edge and caused Heimdall to put an end to all future jaunts.

And banish the men to Jotunheim.

The All-Father managed to ~~just barely~~ prevail over the intractable gatekeeper for the return of his sons and their companions, but never learns the nature of the incident as they _do not speak of it_.


	7. What the Sea Gave Me

Loki, slathered in Eir's strongest herbal mixture to protect skin from the sun, sat reading in the sand at the water's very edge in a futile attempt to forestall Thor's nagging.

"Loki!" Thor cried from where Fandral struggled in the water, to the uproarious laughter of Hogun and Volstagg, after their ignoble defeat at a game named, to the consternation of all across the realms, after a flightless, non-aquatic species of domestic fowl. "Come join us! We are on vacation on an Aflheim pleasure moon, Brother, this is no place to be reading!"

"Paper cut." Loki raised a hand and replied lazily without lifting his eyes from his book.

Fandral at last resurfaced. "Indeed! Put away the old thing, or we will come for you and you will be the next in the drink!" 

"It is indeed old, but no mere 'thing', I assure you," Loki called back. "It is a rare tome of potent seidr to manipulate the very elements of the universe." He waved an arm negligently and the incoming swell overtook the approaching would-be assailants, dragging them spluttering under the water.

Loki had not though, calculated for how the magnitude of the wave would further distort as it came inshore. It soaked his seat and he sprang to his feet as the water soaked through his clothing. "No!" he cried, running into the surf—the wave had taken his jar of herbal cream.

It bobbed, just out of reach, and sunk out of sight as it drifted out to sea. Loki bent and groped desperately, holding his book aloft in his other hand. The following wave was undiminished, and Loki went under.

He came back up spluttering, sand in his hair and the brackish water dripping from his eyes and nostrils. His hand stung something fierce and the jar of ointment was a lost cause. He clutched the now sodden tome in both hands as he stalked back to the beach towels well above the waterline. Flopping down next to Sif where she reclined in the sun, he groaned as he examined the water-logged text.

Sif peered up at him from behind her sunglasses. "Did you go swimming in your clothes?"

She reached over and pulled a strand of kelp from his hair.


	8. He Sings a Love Song as We Go Along

"Loki, I know you don't mind the cold, but you are the Silvertongue, not the Silver Throat, and you have gotten us lost in a frozen wasteland; _must you torture all five of my senses?"_


	9. Incorrigible

Tony turned away from the bar with a glass raised in each hand and an appreciative gaze as he approached the table.

"Bahama Mama!" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Excuse me, Stark?" Despite his sudden reappearance and his previous occupation being on the dance floor, Loki's voice held the chilling cold and weight of slamming coffin lids. He stood flanking Frigga and placed a hand protectively on her shoulder.

Tony reached in front of Frigga to set down a glass and shoved the other into Loki's chest.

"It's a drink; you could use one."

From the middle of the bench, Pepper reached for the first glass to hide her smile.


	10. You'll Have to Do Better Than That

Tony slumped into the kitchen and onto a stool with a moan.

"You can't hold last week over me anymore. Natasha totally beat you last night and I got the perfect picture," Steve said with the obnoxious cheer of the triumphant, non-hungovermorning person. He plunked a mug of coffee as loudly as he could onto the counter by Tony's head. "See for yourself; I sent it to your phone."

Tony seized the mug and downed the entirety of its contents with a baleful glare before reaching for his phone. He tapped to open the notification and stared at the screen for a second.

"Congratulations on learning how to send pictures on your phone, but you should have just used the camera." He held up his phone for Steve to watch the three-second timer run out, and watched the morning cheer drain from the First Avenger's face.

"Snapchat is meant to be fleeting; the picture's already disappeared."


	11. Have You Met Loki?

Loki was getting out the goggles and snorkels as below deck, Sif instructed the tourists on inflating their safety vests and proper snorkeling safety procedures.

"The universal signal for 'help' is, of course, waving your arms about your head. Loki is very fit and CPR certified; if you're floundering or waving to your mum to take a photo of you and you look like you need assistance, we will give you three chances to signal 'ok' to us before he dives in after you. He will drag you back onto the boat, and immediately go into trying to resuscitate you."

Sif scanned her audience as she spoke, the weight of her gaze imparting the importance of her words as she made eye contact with each of her listeners.

"Ladies, fortunately for you, if you'd like to get to know him better, hang out six feet from the boat and wave your arms, and Loki will give his best effort to resuscitate you. Men, fortunately for you, if you'd like to get to know him better, hang out six feet from the boat and wave your arms, and Loki will give his best effort to resuscitate you."

Grins spread as the tourists learned Loki would give his best effort at mouth-to-mouth for men and women alike.

Sif continued on, her voice taking on an edge.

"Unfortunately for you, Loki is taken. Remember while you are not allowed back in the water, that I am the one in charge of the boat."


	12. Just Keep Dancing

Sif can't believe how antiquated her mother is, signing her up for the Snow Ball Debutante Cotillion and ballroom dancing classes on top of that.

To make matters worse, her fellow students are all romantics of the kind who will most fuel her mother about her single-and-not-looking-to-change-it status: fiancées practicing for their first dance, dating couples attempting to increase the romance in their relationship and to divert other energies, and hopeful singles dreaming of meeting and impressing a special someone. This hope is patently absurd as their instructor Lady Frigga is even now encouraging them to find male friends or relatives to bring to balance the class. Her son Loki is her assistant and he cannot partner with them all, at best casting the illusion of intangible clones via the reflections of the dance studio's wall-to-wall mirrors.

At that, a young man walks out with the grace of a god and more than a few ladies titter and blush at his fine features.  _Oh please._  Sif rolls her eyes. She can practically see the romantics fantasizing and scheming not to find partners for themselves. _This is not some story where the dance instructor and the pupil will fall in love, and if her so called peers think so then they are going to be doused with the cold water of reality—they will stand up partnerless or as men, or languish as wallflowers,_ not _in Loki's arms._

Sif refuses to be taken in by his intelligent gaze and wicked smile.


	13. Odin & Sons

Due to Odin's age, Thor and Loki performed all the self-defense demonstrations. Odin was adamant about maintaining maximum realism to best teach their students, so in the name of verisimilitude, profiling dicated that Thor always played the attacker and Loki always played the victim.

Loki understood the nervous, uncomfortable giggling when they moved to floor exercises, but snide jokes of _argr_  and disdain were so asinine. The positions they were performing and their implications were not laughing matters no matter the immaturity of one's mind. And ignoring the important and serious nature of the subject, how were they not impressed with the fact that Loki was portraying their role, that they should identify with him and carefully follow his defending himself, diverting attacks, distracting, injuring, incapacitating, freeing himself  _when faced with an opponent out of his weight class, making the first move with the intent of severe violence and harm._

So he loved when they reached the conclusion of the unit.

"You _want_ your attacker to go for rape."

He relished the stunned expressions and rapt attention his delivery and Thor's red-faced gasping received.

"This choke is the best way to incapacitate your assailant. As you saw, it not only is an extremely effective move within your capability that does not give your assailant opportunity, the transition into it is an equally effective defense against penetration."

He helped Thor to his feet.

"This choke demonstrates why wrestling requires you to 'tap out'. In three seconds it cuts off breath, in five seconds it cuts off blood flow to the brain and your opponent loses consciousness, and in eight to ten seconds your opponent begins to experience brain damage and death."

His audience was left chilled by his ruthless smile.

"Quite the consequence for attempted rape."


	14. Where Caution Bleeds into Cowardice

She is beautiful, laughing in the sunlight with her veil thrown back as she waves to the cheering crowd below.

The Nine Realms have always known Lady Sif would wed a prince of Asgard, and today their speculations as to which are put to rest.

One Son of Odin stands before Asgard today; the other stands aside.

He cannot help but wonder if he has been wrong to stand aside so long in this matter.

They say all is fair in love and war, but who holds the character of Love? She is War, but he did not wish her love to be a battlefield.

To have remained silent all these many long years must be the greatest expression of love, but can it be if it was never said, never able to grow?

 

He saw them in Frigga's gardens once, fitting so perfectly together, separate from the world and time. A beautiful,  _endless_  moment to touch the heart. Her hair shone in the sun, and he couldn't help but remember that her hair shared the brilliance of golden sunshine before it took on the luster of ebon night. He thinks there is some symbolism there.

For all they share, what she shares with his brother is deeper, and it is he she has chosen to be with for the rest of time.

 

He gives the first toast, and then steps back into the shadows.

It's wrong to covet your brother's wife.


	15. What is Love?

"You don't love me, not enough. Not as much as you love your games and tricks. Not enough to see past your lies.

And I, I love you, but, I'm sorry, I can't fix you."


	16. Satisfaction

The warrior maiden's approach to courtship and relationships is simple: if she does not _receive_ satisfaction from her partner, she _exacts_ it on the training grounds.


	17. Trickster

The trick is that, across the Nine Realms and down the millennia, although it is the trick he is most known for, his most spoken of and retold trick, none have figured out  _the_ trick.

 

He did not do it for jealousy, for vengeance, for spite, for pride, or even for mischief.

He did it, for deception, misdirection.

Let the Nine Realms speculate, round and round, whether he did it for any of the reasons they say.

_He laughs._

The Silvertongue is a master, his deception so great he did not even need to spread lies himself in playing _the_ trick.

 

Turning her hair black as midnight—a distraction.

_An all-around diversion._

 

Cutting her golden tresses—cover for his true crime.

_The theft lost in the flowing stream, concealed in the fall of the gleaming cascade._

 

His laughter is hollow, without joy.

_The greatest trick is the one the trickster played upon himself._

 

He snaps the locket shut.

_A lock of stolen gold is nothing against a gift of ebony._

 


End file.
